Some folk songs have words and some folk songs are played on instruments.
Sometimes the same folk song has many different words.


Sometimes a folk melody is used by a composer in a symphony!
It could be played by one instrument or all the instruments in the orchestra.
It could be played slow or fast or even be only partially played!




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The Little Birch Tree is a Russian Folk Song.
A Russian Composer, Pyotr Iiyich Tchaikovsky used this folk song in the final movement of: Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Op. 36
Can you can hear the melody in the oboe and flutes?
Later in the symphony the melody is played by the low brass section.






Can you find more of our folk songs in classical symphonies and operas?
This is the place where we'll put the composers and symphonies you find!



images-8.jpegSimple Gifts,
a Shaker Hymn

Hint: The most famous American composer used it in his most famous work.







images-9.jpeg Go Tell Aunt Rhody,
an American Folk Song


Hint: It appears in the singing book used in the most famous early American singing tradition.